ESPN's 'College GameDay' and CBS prepare meticulously for game

Saturday

Nov 9, 2013 at 12:30 AMNov 9, 2013 at 12:31 AM

Alabama and LSU won't be the only teams in Tuscaloosa today. Two broadcast teams, one inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and one outside, will help bring the UA college football experience to a national television audience.

By Ashley ChaffinStaff Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

Alabama and LSU won't be the only teams in Tuscaloosa today. Two broadcast teams, one inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and one outside, will help bring the UA college football experience to a national television audience.“We're the third team on the field,” Craig Silver, coordinating producer of college football for CBS Sports, said about the “SEC on CBS” crew. “We prepare very much like the teams themselves ... The process for the preparation really begins after the previous week's game ends.”CBS will cover the game from inside Bryant-Denny Stadium at 7 p.m. and ESPN will broadcast “College GameDay” from the Walk of Champions just outside the stadium from 8 to 11 a.m.After CBS' coverage of the Georgia Bulldogs win over the Florida Gators on Nov. 2, Silver and CBS lead college football reporter Tracy Wolfson flew home to begin their preparations for covering the prime-time game this weekend. Both compared the weekly demand of covering a game to the 1984 movie “Groundhog Day,” where Bill Murray's character experiences the same day over and over again. “Thursday out, Sunday home, Thursday out, Sunday home, Thursday out, Sunday home,” said Silver, who calls New York City home. “I always say, we come home on Sunday, we unpack our wheelie bag and we pack it right back up,” Wolfson said. Weeks for the crews involved in ESPN's “College GameDay” are similar, with preparation for the show beginning almost immediately after the previous week's broadcast. ESPN's focus, however, is not solely on the game in Tuscaloosa, which will make up about 25 to 30 percent of the show. “Naturally, there is going to be more content focused on this game than other games, but we have fans tuning in from all over the country who want to hear about their teams in the national landscape,” said Lee Fitting, senior coordinating producer at ESPN. Tom Rinaldi, a reporter for ESPN, said his weekly preparation doesn't dive much into analysis, but rather the coaches and players themselves. For this week's broadcast, he'll have a feature about visiting AJ McCarron's home on Thursday when the Tide quarterback hosted the offensive line. “If you ever want to know how you can feed a ton and a half of humanity on under $100, watch the feature, it's pretty scary,” Rinaldi said. Analyzing the statistics, videotape, the teams' tendencies and story lines, Silver said the CBS team comes up with their own “play book” for the game. In Tuscaloosa on Friday, the cast and crew went over the game plan for today's matchup. “Probably the hardest thing is to make sure that we're watching the game in front of us and that we're covering the game that's unfolding in front of us,” he said. “Not the game that we thought was going to happen.”Wolfson, who reports from the sidelines during games, is responsible for watching both the game and the sidelines. For her, the only scripted part of the show is her opening. From there, her coverage depends on the game itself. She said the hardest part of covering a game of this magnitude is getting access, especially considering how loud the stadium can get.“A lot of the stuff I do is from the field and a lot of the stuff I try to get is from the teams on the sidelines, listening in and trying to hear from the coaches and the players,” Wolfson said. “When it's this loud and this big of a game, it's definitely difficult to hear, so that hurts you a little bit.”Fitting called “College GameDay” an “unscripted scripted” show. They go in with some of the show scripted and certain topics planned, but the hosts drive the broadcast. “In my mind, the more unscripted it is, the better,” he said. “The more chaotic it is, the better because the better the guys are — they're more fun, it's more action-packed. “I sort of have a plan — I roll the ball out there and let the boys go with it.” One aspect of the show that is planned is Lee Corso's headgear pick, when the analyst shows who he thinks will win by donning headgear associated with one of the teams. By Tuesday, Fitting said he knows who Corso is going to go with that week. For some College GameDay broadcasts, he brings in live mascots, although he has never brought a live elephant to Tuscaloosa before.“We were told it was $10,000 and we took a pass on it,” Fitting said, “but we will do that at some point.”